The present application is requesting funds to support travel awards for senior post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty to attend the conference 'New Paradigms in Vascular Biology: Renal Implications.' The conference will be held October 27-28, 2004 at the America's Center in St. Louis, MO as part of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Renal Week 2004. The kidneys are among the most richly vascularized organs in mammals; however, the mechanisms regulating development and maintenance of the renal vascular supply are poorly understood. The proposed conference is needed and will be scientifically very useful to the renal community. It will bring together the best scientists in the field of vascular biology, and expose the renal community to the current understanding of vascular biology across systems. It is with such exposure that researchers interested in the kidney can develop collaborations, be exposed to new technical approaches to studying the vascular cell, and apply what is known about vascular cell physiology and pathophysiology in other organ systems to the kidney. Given the current milieu of academia, it is often difficult for investigators to attend multiple meetings every year. Having this conference in conjunction with the annual meeting of the ASN, which is the largest kidney research and clinical meeting in the world, permits the renal community to, in effect, attend another meeting. The program includes two common meal/reception events to enhance communication between the invited speakers and participants. Our past experience is that these 'social' events promote the development of collaborations within and between the renal and non-renal communities. The program is divided into 3 sessions: 1) Angiogenesis, 2) Development, and 3) Atherosclerosis, Inflammation, and Repair, in addition to a key note speaker. Of the confirmed speakers, 4 are women and 6 are men